The present invention relates to a method of packing a container with a desired kind of powder and an apparatus for the same. The present invention is applicable not only to toner used in a copier, printer or similar electrophotographic image forming apparatus, but also to other various kinds of powder including pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and foods.
A copier, for example, belonging to a family of electrophotographic image forming apparatuses includes a developing unit for developing a latent image formed on a photoconductive element with toner. A toner container packed with fresh toner is mounted to the developing unit for replenishing the toner to the developing unit. The prerequisite with the toner container is that it be densely and uniformly packed with the toner. While toner packing methods are disclosed in, e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication Nos. 8-198203 and 7-125702, they have some problems left unsolved, as will be described specifically later.